Category Archives: WH40k 7th Edition

Warhammer 40000 (WH40k) is the futuristic version of popular Warhammer science fiction table top wargame. Between the two core Games Workshop games (Age of Sigmar being the other) Warhammer 40k is probably best developed. With WH40k you have rule books and army books ( codexes) that have developed over many years and a huge repository of background material..

In this section we will have a look at the tactics for the Games WorkshopWarhammer 40000 table top wargame. Please remember these pages do not replace the game rules. You will need to buy (or have access to) a copy of the Warhammer 40k Rulebook to play the game. The official introduction to the game can be found at http://www.games-workshop.com

Uplate! Warhammer 40000 8th edition Comming Imminently!

Games Workshop are releasing the 8th edition of the Warhammer 40K rules. This release will be a major change. The changes will be so big that most of the existing tactics will need to be reviewed and re-witten. For the players staying with the (very solid) 7th edition rules, I will be moving these pages to the ‘other wargames’ section.

I have written this site aimed at those who have played a couple of times and own a copy of the rules and want to advance their skills. If you do not have a copy of the Warhammer 40000 Rulebook them buy one. It’s a must have item to play the game.

General Tactics for Warhammer 40000 – 7th Edition

Warhammer 40000 (WH40k) is the futuristic version of popular Warhammer science fiction table top wargame. Between the two core Games Workshop games (Age of Sigmar being the other) Warhammer 40k is probably best developed. With WH40k you have rule books and army books ( codexes) that have developed over many years and a huge repository of background material..

In this section we will have a look at the tactics for the 7th edition of Games WorkshopWarhammer 40000 table top wargame. Please remember these pages do not replace the game rules. You will need to buy (or have access to) a copy of the Warhammer 40k Rulebook to play the game. The official introduction to the game can be found at http://www.games-workshop.com

Uplate! Warhammer 40000 8th edition Is Here!

Games Workshop are releasing the 8th edition of the Warhammer 40K rules. This release will be a major change. The changes will be so big that most of the existing tactics will need to be reviewed and re-witten. For the players staying with the (very solid) 7th edition rules, I will be moving these pages to the ‘other wargames’ section.

I have written this site aimed at those who have played a couple of times and own a copy of the rules and want to advance their skills. If you do not have a copy of the Warhammer 40000 Rulebook them buy one. It’s a must have item to play the game.

Over the years Games Workshop have created a number of auxiliary Imperial Forces that are not quite big enough to warrant their own Codex, but are too fun to play to drop completely. These include The Sisters of Battle, Assassins, The Legion of the Dammed, and Inquisition, amongst others. Recently Games Workshop have done the right thing by bringing all these factions in to one Codex, Codex: Imperial Agents.

If you have been collecting Warhammer models for a while, or you have one of the boxed games that have these units in, you will want this updated Codex with the latest rules and updates.

Imperial Agents General Tactics

The Imperial Agents are not designed as a stand alone army. This does not mean that you cannot use them on their own. It’s just how they are designed, so let’s have a look at this first.

Imperial Agent Factions

Cult Mechanicus: Mechanics with optional labotomised heavy weapons.

Aeronautical Imperialis: Fire power on the wing and good for fast troop transportation too.

Adeptus Astra Telepathica: Imperial Psykers that come singularly or as brotherhood of psychers.

Adepta Sororitas: Guard in Power Armour, or low point Marines? Make of them what you will. They do come with a lot of framers, so they are always hot stuff!

The Deathwatch: Elite Space Marines on a mission.

Grey Knights: Got a Daemon problem? Rent a Marine has the solution for you!

Legion of the Dammed: Veteran Marines with firery shells and a reputation for warping out when the going gets though!

Officio Assassinorum: Nope, no one here!

The Inquisition: Oh no, not the comfy chair!

What Imperial Agents can add to a Space Marine army

WH40k Space Marines have a very developed army list, and you can find a solution to any situation within that list if you wanted to. However there are units found within the Imperial Agents Codex that are useful in specific situations. This is another case of being prepared if you have advanced knowledge of the opposition, territory, and mission.

3 of the Imperial Agent factions are special types of Space Marines. The Deathwatch, Grey Knights, and Legion of the Dammed, are elite Space Marine units. If you want to add more elite units then you can look at these units in addition to the ones found in the Codex: Space Marines.

The Officio Assassinorum is a popular addition to a Space Marine army. Their assassin skills can be very useful in certain situations. I would not recommend having more than one in a game.

Tech-priests Enginseers of the Cult Mechanicus are useful for repairing tank and other armoured vehicles. Space Marine have Techmarines covering this role, and although the Techmarines are 10 points more you do get a lot for the extra points.

The Sisters of Battle (Adeptus Sororitas), and Inquisition may be useful if you want to add cheaper gun fodder. They have a bit more bite than an Imperial Guard detachment which is the usual go to for gun fodder.

What Imperial Agents can add to an Imperial Guard Army

With the Imperial Guard the Imperial Agents really come into their own. Any of the Imperial Agents can act as Elite units for the Guard.

As usual, I highly recommend that you limit the amount of points spent on Elite units. If you over do it you will find yourself short of boots on the ground to achieve your objectives!

Cult Machanicus and Tech-Preist Enginseers give the Imperial Guard a chance to repair tank and vehicles like Techmarines do for the Space Marines. This is great if you are fielding Leman Russ Tanks and Chimera. The trick here is to keep the Tech-Preist and the armour together. Servitors will aid the Tech-Preist too.

The Aeronotica Imperialis can be useful for the Guard too. Their Valerie aircraft can ferry Guard units around the board quickly. This can be very useful to steal objects.

A Tyranid Lictor sneeks up on Sisters of Battle

Where the Adaptation Sororitas or the Sisters of Battle as cut price Marines, the Guard see them as armoured Veteran units. The power armour and flames are just the tool for cleaning out buildings where poorly armoured Guardsman would just get shredded in close combat.

If you have been playing Chaos Space Marines for a while and you are looking to add a bit more character to your army then you may be interested in the Black Legion Black Legion Codex Supplement that adds extra rules for the Chaos Space Marines that follow Abaddon the Despoiler and the Sons of Horus (a Chaos Space Marine army and not some Heavy Metal pop group!).

The rule for the Black Legion come from the Codex Supplement: Black Legion. You can buy this from the Black Libaray to download, or from online stores like Element Games. You will need the full Codex Space Marines to use this supplement, so make sure you have a copy of that first, or easy access to a copy!

What’s in the Codex Supplement?

In the Black Legion supplement you get :

Black Legion special rules.

Chaos Space Marine Artifacts for the Black Legion.

Black Legion Warlord Traits

7 Black Legion formations

8 Black Legion themed Missions

Black Legion Tactical Objectives

Chaos Artifacts of the Black Legion

The Black Legion supplement comes with rules and points for 6 Black Legion artifacts. You do not need to limit yourself to these artifacts if you are playing a Black Legion army, you can still choose artifacts from the Chaos Space Marine Codex, or from the mission special artifacts, if the mission has them.

Be careful when adding artifacts to your heroes. Their points can add up quickly. You may find that the points would be better used by adding more models to the force However if you have no models to add and you want to use the points up then they could be worth considering!

Black Legion Formations

The main reason a Chaos Space Marine player will want the Codex Supplement is the army formations that are detailed in the supplement.

The Bringer of Despair

The Chosen of Abaddon

The Hounds of Abaddon

Daemon Engine Pack

Cyclopia Cabal

The Tormented

Black Legion Warband

Black Legion Missions

There are 8 Black Legion themed missions included in the Codex Supplement.

If you know me you may know that I started playing Warhammer 40k with the original Space Hulk boxed game in the mists of history so the re-appearance of Genestealer Cults brings a sense of joy. Anyway, on with the important bit, the Genestealer Cult Tactics!

As always, these notes are written with the expectation that you have access to the Codex: Genestealer Cults book and the main WH40k rules.

What are Genestealer Cults?

Before the Tyranids existed as a WH40k army Games Workshop released a board game based on 40k ( as they do from time to time ) called ‘Space Hulk’. The first variant of Space Hulk had two expansion sets. One called ‘Deathwing’ ( introducing the Dark Angel first company ) and one called ‘ Genestealer ‘ that introduced Genestealer Cults to the 40k universe. Warhammer.Wikia has a detailed page on the history the of Space Hulk game. Over time this army sported off the Tyranid army that has mainly superseded them. Now with a new boxed game ‘Over Kill’ featuring Genestealer Cultists we have a new Genestealer Cults Codex and some new models too!

In Warhammer 40K terms Genestealers Hybrids are part human and part Genestealer. As such they have close combat skills inherited from thier Genestealer parents and ballistic skills inherited from thier human parents.

Genestealer Hybrids go through several generations. With each generation the Hybrids close combat skills become weaker and thier ballistic skill improves.

General Genestealer Cult Tactics

By their nature Genestealer Cult armies are a rag tag army of gutter trash and army deserters. By the time they grow in to a force large enough to conquer planets they get observed in to the Tyranid main force. This means that the Genestealer Cultists are far better at smaller skirmish games than full Apocalypse games.

The Genestealer Cults army has a number of specCult Ambushial rules that help the Cult army in areas with lots of cover. City Fights and Jungle warfare spring to mind. If you have a chance to effect the amount of cover go for as much as possible!

Most of the Genestealer Cult units have the ability to infiltrate and the drop back in to reserves. This means that you have the ability to keep your enemy chasing shadows. The same abilities allow you to ‘steal’ objectives. Popping up to take objectives. then slipping away again. Remember that you do not have to destroy the enemy to win games.

The main weakness in the Genestealer Cult army is lack of air support and anti-aircraft weapons. The best option if you are facing air attacks is to dive for cover and hide! Option 2 is to get some missile wielding Neophytes. These can be upgraded to have sky-fire missiles.

Genestealer Cults Special Rules

Genestealer Cults have a number of sneaky special rules. These will help you in built up City Fight scenarios.

Cult Ambush

The Genestealer Cult Codex has a new table that you can use instead of Infiltrating or arriving from reserves in the usual fashion if you wish. You do not have to use the new table (p97), you can choose when you return the unit to the table, and you can have some units returning normally and some returning using the new table. Note that if the unit is in a Goliath or Chimera then you have to return using the normal reserves rules.

The benefit of using the standard rules is that they are less open to risk. You know that the unit will be coming in on the left or right table edge and you have a 1 in 3 chance of choosing which edge they come in on too. With the new table there are 6 possibilities. As I have said elsewhere, randomness is the enemy of solid tactics.

So why use the new table? The main reason is that you can arrive much closer to your pray. There is a 2 in 6 chance that you can arrive within 9″ ( easy assault range next turn) and only 1 in 6 chance that you may arrive further away on your table edge. The best of all though is if you roll a 6 then you can return within 3″ of your pray and assault in the same turn. Do this with a large unit of Purestrain Genestealers and you can wipe out whole units before returning to the shadows (see the next special rule)

Return to the Shadows

This sneaky special rule will have your opponents chasing shadows! Not only can the Genestealer Cult units infiltrate in, but they can drop back in to reserves ready to pop up elsewhere on the table later.

To use this rule the unit must have the ‘Return to the Shadows’ special rule, not be in a vehicle and be more than 6″ away from the enemy at the start of the movement phase. This means that you will need to make sure that you are not encircled. When arriving from reserves choose targets that are on the edge of the main force, or better still, stranded from their comrades. Also watch out for traps like enemy units deep-striking behind you!

Notice that you can not return to the shadows and reappear on the same turn. This would be too much like teleporting! As you return to the shadows in the movement phase you will not get to shoot or assault in that turn. Make sure that you use your units effectively.

Genestealer Cult HQ Tactics

The Codex: Genestealer Cults gives us four HQ options. The first is the Genestealer Patriarch, then there is the Magus. Both of these are familiar from earlier Codexes. In addition there are two new HQ tactics to this codex.

Genestealer Patriarch Tactics

A Tyranid Genestealer Patriarch ( Brood Lord ) and Genestealers

The Genestealer Patriarch is the head of the Genestealer insurgence on a planet. As such there should only be one Patriarch in a game. However if you want to fly in the face of the background story, or if you want to create a new storyline, the rules do let you field a number of Patriarchs in a game. Be warned, there may be an amount of shouts of ‘Cheese!’ from opponents and onlookers!

Genestealer Magus Tactics

With each generation the Genestealers pick the most psychic offspring to mate and create the next generation. By the forth generation a leader with full psychic powers is developed. These are the Genestealer Magus’s. They are the psychics of the Genestealer army. You may note that the Patriarch has limited psychic powers, but the Neophyte and Acolyte psykers are missing from this codex.

Genestealer Primus Tactics

The Genestealer Primus is a new addition to the Genestealer Colt army. As an army General he is cheaper than a Patriarch and a better fighter than the Magus. If you are fighting small games or you need the points elsewhere then the Primus is worth considering.

Genestealer Acolyte Iconward Tactics

The Genestealer Acolyte Iconward is an Acolyte that has proved himself worthy of the honour of carrying the cults Icon. The Iconward has stats comparable with a Space Marine Captain and has access to the Genestealer Sacred Relics if you want to spice your Iconward a bit.

Genestealer Cult Elite Tactics

Elite troops are usually more expensive in points costs than troop units. In a standard formation you are limited to 3 elite units in an army. This is so you have enough space for plenty of troop choices. In a unformed army you can have as many of whichever units you want. However having too many elite units will mean that you will be out numbered during the game. Add elite units to your army list, but I highly recommend not over doing it!

Purestrain Genestealer Tactics

Purestrain Genestealers are the original Genestealers from the Space Hulk Games. The stats in the Codex Genestealer Cults are different from the Codex Tyranids. If you are playing both army lists in the same game you will have to make sure that the different units can be visually told apart.

Purestrain Genestealers only have a 5+ save. This means that the will be ripped apart by most weapons, and the ones that do give you a save will mean that yo are saving 1 in 3 times. This means that you need to keep out of line of fire as much as possible. Hug all the cover you can. The Cult Genestealers get the Stealth special rule. This will help against most weapons.

One way to keep out of line of fire is to get to your pray quickly. Genestealers get Infiltrate and the special Genestealer Cult special rule ‘Cult Ambush’ to start closer to the enemy, the Fleet and Move Through Cover rules should help them cover intervening ground.

A Tyranid Genestealer Patriarch ( Brood Lord ) and Genestealers

You can have up to 20 Purestrain Genestealers in a unit. This would be expensive, but add survivability to the unit. Note that a squad of 20 stealers is difficult to hide. Have a play with squad sizes and see what works best for you.

Genestealers do not get a dedicated transport option. This does not mean tat they can not hop in to a passing empty Chimera or Truck. Hitching a ride can be a way of moving around the table faster and giving the Genestealers some much needed protection.

Genestealer Hybrid Metamorphs Tactics

Genestealer Cult Hybrid Metamorphs are a new addition to the Codex Genestealer Cults. The Metamorphs are Genestealer Acolytes with extra biomorph mutations. This does push up the points cost per model by one point. As the biomorphs are close combat based you will need to see how often you get in to assault to see if the upgrades are worth it.

Genestealer Aberrants Tactics

Genestealer Aberrant are new to the 2016 Codex Genestealer Cults too.

Genestealer are beefed up infantry units. Armed with Power Axes and Power Hammers, Aberrants they have the clout to make a dint in the toughest tank or walker. Remember that you have to get close to get the hits in.

Genestealer Cult Troop Tactics

The Genestealer Cult Codex provides a couple of troop choices. One option is a close assault focused option and one is more like a Imperial Guard squad. Both options are cheap which means that you can crate a horde army allowing you to out number the opposition.

Genestealer Acolyte Hybrids Tactics

Genestealer Cult Acolyte Hybrids are second and third generation Genestealers. Second Generation Genestealers are half purestrain and half human. These creatures almost look like purestrain Genestealers but can carry weapons. Third generation hybrids look more human but may have 2 to 4 arms and a purplish tone to their skin.

With their Genestealer heritage Genestealer Acolytes are good close combat units for the points cost. their ballistic skill is 3 ( better that the BS2 that they use to be) so you do have half a chance of hitting with your autopistols, however you may want to upgrade as many Acolytes as possible with hand flamers as these hit automatically and ignore cover!

Acolytes with hand weapons get an extra attack on top of the 2 ( or 3 with Acolyte Leader). If you get the charge bonus you can get 4 ( or 5 ) rendering attacks. This means that you have a good chance of winning an assault even against more armoured foe.

So what are the best tactics for Acolyte Genestealers? As with most of the cult army, choose small units as your targets, sneak up close, wipe out the target if you can, and then run away to fight elsewhere on the battlefield later in the game.

Genestealer Neophyte Hybrids Tactics

Neophyte Hybrids are more human than Genestealer. They have access to a wider range of weapons. The downside is that they have far more human stats. In fact the stat line is so close to an Imperial Guardsman that many use Guard models as Neophytes.

The Genestealer Cult Codex allows very flexible formation for Neophyte units. For example you can have two miner heavy weapons or one Imperial Guard Heavy Weapon. Also you can have two special weapons.

Genestealer Cult Fast Attack Tactics

Most Genestealer Cults are fast because they can disappear one turn and reappear somewhere completely different in the next turn. However this disappearing and reappearing act means that you miss some phases and opportunities to cause havoc. With fast units you can usually get around the table quickly and stay on the table the whole turn.

Think about your tactics before you draw up an army list. The less cover on the table, the more fast and heavy units you will need.

Chimera Tactics

The Genestealer Cult army is often joined by renegade Imperial Guard Units. Some of these units bring basic Guard equipment with them. For this reason it is no surprise that the Genestealer Cult army has access to a number of basic Chimera.

Chimera can move units around the table quicker than running and give some protection and offer some fire support too.

As the Genestealer Cult Chimera is like the Imperial Guard one you can deploy all the same tricks. A favourite is the ‘Mobile Pillbox’ where special weapon or heavy weapon squad members can pop the top hatch and fire their weapons on the move.

Armoured Sentinel Squad Tactics

Armoured Sentinels give the Genestealer Cult some much needed heavy weapon support. It does not have the return to the shadows special rule, so you have to be careful that you are not backed in to a corner.

As infantry units in the Genestealer Cult army are very capable at taking on softer infantry targets, I recommend tooling up your Sentinels with Lascannons, Plasma Cannons and Missile Launchers to take out larger, more armoured targets.

Scout Sentinel Squad Tactics

Scout Sentinels are like the Armoured Sentinel Squads but with less armour (Douh!). The upside, apart from being 5 points cheaper, is that they gain ‘Scout’ and ‘Move Through Cover’ special rules. I feel that the sneaky nature of these walkers make for a better fit with the nature of the Genestealer Cult army, so they are my preferred choice.

Like the Armoured Sentinels I recommend upgrading the weapons to take on more armoured targets.

Genestealer Cults Goliath Trucks

Out goes the limousine (do you remember them?) and in comes the Goliath Truck as transport for your Genestealers and hybrids.

Genestealer Cult Heavy Support Tactics

Some times you just need big guns! The Genestealer Cults has two heavy support options. The first is the Goliath Rock grinder, the second is the Leman Russ battle tank with a variety of weapons.

Leman Russ Battle Tank Tactics

The Leman Russ Battle tank is a core element of the Imperial Guard army. As such it is no wonder that they are available to renegade units that defect to the Genestealer Cult. The challenge though will be to work big slow noisy behemoth in to the sneaky hit and run tactics.

Goliath Rockgrinder Tactics

In addition to the Goliath Truck the Genestealers get a Heavy Support version with extra heavy weapons and extra grinding dozer blade called the Goliath Rockgrinder.

Genestealer Cult Formations

One thing that we do have with the Genestealer Cult Codex is a good number of formations. Many of these match the boxed sets that Games Workshop sell like the formation found in the Overwatch boxed game.

In the 2015 Space Marine Codex there are 10 different formations that you can add in to your army list. No you will not be able to add all the formations in to each game, the formations will cost more points than the game limit will allow. If you play a super massive Apocalypse game then you may be able to, but that is what Apocalypse games are all about!

Are Space Marine Formations worth it?

Formations usually add some special rules that can give you a gaming advantage. The cost of this is that the formations normally have a formation structure and often other restrictions too.

So is it worth jigging your army list around to accommodate formations? I believe that if the changes are in line with your game plan, then you may find that slipping the formations in to the army list. However the special rules usually do not give such a big advantage to warrant making major game plan change

Space Marine Battle Demi-Company Tactics

The Space Marine Demi-Company is a fairly strict formation of mainly troop based designed to be a core army. The advantage of this formation is that it is easier to claim contested objectives. With the Maelstrom of War scenarios taking objectives is a major part of the missions.

Space Marine Anti-Air Defence Force Tactics

With this formation you need to know that you will be needing a major amount of anti aircraft support, or anti Monstrous Flying Creature support.

Ezekiel and the Dark Angel Librarius Concave, it sounds like a 1960’s psychedelic pop group to me, and if you think the same you may not be far wrong!

However the Dark Angel Librarius Concave is a Dark Angel formation found on the Games Workshop Black Library site. The ebook it’s self is a small publication that has the formations special rules and not much else. You could print it out on one side of A4 (letter sized) sheet of paper.

The Dark Angel Librarius Concave Formation

The Formation consists of Ezekiel and a small number of Dark Angel Librarians. This means that the formation will fit nicely along side a battle forged formation or a Demi company formation. And you may be able to do this in 1500 points with careful points cost planning. Fitting the Concave in to a 2k game should be easy.

The Dark Angel Librarius Concave Special rules

“On the other side of the Battlefield I could sense Brother Ezekiel and Brother Paul mind link to perform a psychic blast. Now it was the turn of Brother David and I to use our skills.

Brother David was with Squad Delius a few feet in front of me. I was with squad vintners. They where glad of the extra protection my psychic hood gave them. the either was heavy with the screams from the void. So heavy even not psychics could sense it.

I sensed Brother David pick out a leader of the fallen to interrogate. Linking to my mind I opened up my skills to perform the Mind Worm, a skill I knew well but Brother David did not. With this access he reached out to the fallen but the fallen was too far away. At that moment I added my psychic energy to his to boost the range and we locked on to the mind of the fallen. While Brother David when to work opening the mind of the fallen I sensed a ripple in the warp. I was able to synchronizes with the ripple and the Mind Worm held. Brother David continued to unlock the fallen’s mind but then the link broke. The fallen had fended off our link this time and mentally numbed from the effort we needed to rest our minds a few minutes before trying both again. Time to see what a few bolter shells will do. ”

Apart from letting you field more Librarians per game, with all their extra psychic power dice, the Librarius Concave comes with a single special rule that has 3 parts basically you can pick a Dark Angel Librarian from the formation and he can form a temporary mind link with the other Librarians from the same formation within 12″. This gives this Librarian extra powers, but the other Librarians in the mind group can not do anything that psychic phase. This means that you may want to buddy up your Librarians in pairs. This will give you all the special rule bonuses with the greatest efficiency.

Conclusion

If you like to field psykers, and you have a mode to represent Ezekiel, plus another 2 psykers, then you may want to get this Data slate and give your opponent a headache!

Azrael, Supreme Grand Master Tactics

Azrael is the most senior Dark Angel leader. Because of this he is the most expensive character available, and has the most special rules. Unlike most Chapter Masters Azrael‘s special rules are as much about empowering the unit he is in as it is about giving Azrael more punch. This is quite different from the other Space Marine Chapter Masters and Special characters.

Azrael’s Wargear

Azrael has some wargear. His Combi-Bolter, Plasma Gun is master crafted so the one shot plasma gun a better chance of hitting and not over heating. Azrael‘s

Power Sword is S6 AP3. This means that you should be able to slice through standard Space Marine and Chaos Marine power armour, bur it will bounce off Terminator armour.

Azrael has Artificer armour that gives a 2+ save and the Feel No Pain special rule on a 5+. These are fairly standard and not worth the high points cost. The last war gear item is special. The Lion Helm gives his whole unit 4+ invulnerable saves.

All this means that Azrael is more able to survive a fire fight than a close combat fight. This means that you may want to hold back on Azrael until you have thinned out the enemy with fire power and use close combat specialists like Terminators to mop up.

Azrael’s Special Rules

Grand Master Azrael has a number of special rules. Some of these special rules bestow other special rules on Azrael, so you need to make sure you know what you have!

Deathwing Special Rule

The Deathwing special rule shows that Azrael is, or has been promoted from the Dark Angel 1st company, the Deathwing. This special rule gives Azrael the Fearless special rule and hatred to Chaos Space Marines.

The fearless special rule means that Areal, and any unit he joins do not have to take fear, pinning and moral checks. This spacial rule should mean that pinning weapons have far less effect against Areal and his unit. The downside of fearlessness is that Azrael and company will not be able exit an assault if thing do not go well by opting to fail a moral check. All this means that you will want to pick and choose the fight that Azrael get in to carefully.

One sneaky tactic would be to have an Imperial Guard detachment as an allied detachment. This will allow you to have Azrael join a unit of 30 conscripts. Doing this will create a nearly un-shiftable fearless unit with 4+ invulnerable save and Ld10. Set out in a Congo line, that would create a unit 3 men deep and 33″ wide ( nearly 3 feet wide) or a single line 6 feet wide. Definitely an obstacle to any enemy advance!

Warlord Trait

If you field Azrael then he will automatically become your warlord. As such you will need to roll against the Warlord table, however Azrael can only one of the Dark Angel warlord traits in the Codex, however you do have the option to pick which one. This means that you can factor in Azrael’s warlord trait in to your tactics before you arrive at the game. Other armies will have to react to the trait rolled at the start of each game.

Summary

As we have seen, Azrael is a tactician and not street fighter. Use him to empower the rest of the army and you will see that he is truly worth of the the title of Dark Angel Lords of War!

The Tyranid Sporocyst in a new addition to the Warhammer 40000 Tyranid army. Its rules can be found in White Dwarf weekly no. 41. You can download this from the Black Library site ( for £2.49 ) here.

General Tyranid Sporocyst Tactics

The Tyranid Sporocyst’s rules are not well written, leaving some big holes it the rules that you maybe able to exploit, or need to agree house rules with your opponent before battle commences. These rule holes come from the fact that the Tyranid Sporocyst is half Monstrous creature and half fortification. For example the rule for firing the weaponry is written as if the Sporocyst is a fortification with automated weapons. However the creature is listed as a Heavy Support Monstrous Creature. This means that when the rules say:

“Each weapon on this model automatically fires at the nearest enemy unit within range and line of sight”

We are expecting that each weapon has a different firing arch. However as Monstrous Creature have 360 degree fire arch for all their weapons, so all the weapons should be shooting at the same target. I highly recommend that you agree with our opponent if the weapons have a fire arch before you start the game. I suggest that the weapons should have a 180 degree fire arch, but this is up to you. A 360 arch for each weapon will make the creature much more valuable!

Where to place your Tyranid Sporocyst

The Tyranid Sporocyst is immobile. This means that where ever you place the Sporocyst at the begging of the game, that is where it will stay. The Sporocyst does not have the deepstrike special rule ( despite the fluff saying that they are dropped on to the battlefield ), however they do have Infiltrate. This means that you can decide where to place your Tyranid Sporocyst after your opponent has placed his forces on the table. This it turn may give you an idea of his strategy and an idea on how to use the Sporocyst to disrupt these plans. Another bonus is that you can place the Sporocyst outside our deployment area as long as you follow the infiltrate rules. This means that you can use it to contest or provide cover fire for an objective.

The Tyranid Sporocyst also have a psychic resonator that allows Hive Mind creatures nearby ( 6″ ) to extend the reach of their Hive Mind reach by 6″. This means that you will want to place your Sporocyst some where where Hive Mind Creatures will be passing or hanging out for the duration of the game. This usually means placing the Sporocyst as close to the centre of the table as possible.

At last! The Tyranids have some kind of transport, or in this case a Drop-pod option. This gives the Tyranids a chance to get up the gaming table quickly!

General Tyannocyte Tactics

Tyrannocyte are like Drop-Pods. They come in using the Deep Strike rules, but the scatter distance is reduced to ensure that they land safely, like the Space Marine Drop Pod does. This means that you will not have to roll against the Deep-Strike mishap table. Be aware though that scattering may land you i a space where your brood or Monstrous Creature can not disembark. If you land in a confined area your cargo may be destroyed on arrival! So Tactic One – Choose your landing zone carefully!

Once the Tyranid Tyrannocyte has landed and unloaded it’s cargo it’s usefulness does not stop there. Armed with 5 Tyranid shooting weapons the Tyrannocyte can move around firing at any enemy units it can sence. The firing of the weapons is not totally under your control as the Tyrannocyte uses a special ‘instinctive fire’ rule that it shares with the Tyranid Sporecyst creature.

What is the best Tyranid for the Tyrannocyte to carry?

This does depend on the mission, the terrain,and enemy that you are facing. So the more you can find out about an up coming game before you create your army list the better. Option two is to creat several army lists each one covering a different game possibility and pull out the best army list at the last moment.

The next point to consider when selecting what creature or brood to drop in is that when the Monstrous Creature or brood disembarks they will be able to shoot or run, but not move or assault.

Tyrannocyte and S10 Weapons

Most Tyranid Monstrous creatures are Toughness 6 so that Strength 10 weapons will not kill them, however this is not the case for the Tyrannocyte. This means that you will be advised to look out for Demolisher and Earth Shaker cannons. There are other S10 weapons, but as these two are large blast markers and the Tyrannocyte is a large target and difficult to miss. So beware!